Thu 24 Oct 2019
Pulp PI Stories I’m Reading: HUGH B. CAVE “The Late Mr. Smythe.”
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Pulp Fiction , Stories I'm Reading[4] Comments
HUGH B. CAVE “The Late Mr. Smythe.” Short story. Peter Kane #1. First published in Dime Detective Magazine, August 1, 1934. Collected in Bottled in Blonde (Fedogan & Bremer, hardcover, 2000) and The Complete Cases of Peter Kane (Altus Press, 2018; introduction by Bob Byrne).
Private eyes in detective fiction are as often as not hard drinkers, and some of them are awfully good at it. But few of them are as good at it as was Peter Kane. There isn’t a single minute in “The Late Mr. Smythe” in which he isn’t totally sozzled. I can’t believe that anyone could go through life the same way he does, in three stages: drunk, drunker, and completely plastered.
A former member of the Boston police department, Kane nominally now works for the Beacon Detective Agency, but in “The Late Mr. Smythe,” he takes the death of a friend of his still on the force personally, and he works full time on this one on his own to bring the killer(s) to justice.
The first death is that of a blackmailer named Smiley Smythe, and when a cop named Hoban tries to bring his suspected killer in, a hoodlum named Joe DiVina, both men are killed by a torrent of machine gun fire from a car that comes speeding by.
Besides Kane, who spends a lot of time at a bar run by a fellow named Limpy, the other recurring characters are Moe Finch, the hapless chief of police, who continually begs for Kane’s assistance; and Kane’s nemesis still on the force, Lt. Moroni. It is always Kane’s pleasure to not only solve the case at hand, but to show up Moroni as well, and in the most dramatic way he can.
Hugh B. Cave is best known for his tales of horror and weird menace, but in this, the first of Peter Kane’s cases on record, he shows he could write very very good detective stories too. Surprisingly good, given Peter Kane’s way with either a glass or the bottle.
The Peter Kane series —
The Late Mr. Smythe. Dime Detective Magazine Aug 1 1934
Hell on Hume Street. Dime Detective Magazine Nov 1 1934
Bottled in Blonde. Dime Detective Magazine Jan 1 1935
The Man Who Looked Sick. Dime Detective Magazine Apr 1 1935
The Screaming Phantom . Dime Detective Magazine May 1 1935
The Brand of Kane. Dime Detective Magazine Jun 15 1935
Ding Dong Belle. Dime Detective Magazine Aug 1941
The Dead Don’t Swim. Dime Detective Magazine Nov 1941
No Place to Hide. Dime Detective Magazine Feb 1942
October 24th, 2019 at 6:42 pm
These tales were all collected in a 2000 book called “Bottled in Blonde”.
When read years ago, thought the stories really started getting good halfway through, with “The Screaming Phantom”.
Just read this first one again, “The Late Mr. Smythe”. It has some clever plot twists towards the end. And some good atmosphere.
Thanks for a good review.
October 24th, 2019 at 7:06 pm
I’d forgotten the earlier collection, BOTTLED IN BLONDE. I’ll add it to the review. Thanks!
And, yes, I agree about the clever plot twists.They caught me sitting back on my heels. I wasn’t really expectorating them — and I love it when that happens.
October 25th, 2019 at 8:57 pm
Cave is one of those writers who could almost always be guaranteed to sail past competent to the damn good category even when he was penning weird menace or spicy tales. He’s one of those competent pulpsters who was generally more than competent.
October 25th, 2019 at 9:24 pm
Cave was born in 1910 and lived to 2004, a good long life. I had the pleasure of meeting him at one of the Pulpcons held in Bowling Green and taking a tour of the Popular Culture Library there with three or four others. I’ll remember the day forever. He was friendly and very much a gentleman.